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Get an Edge with CALI

For students who are unfamiliar with CALI (The Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction), this organization provides a host of resources, free for law students.

CALI provides substantive law lessons that can be most helpful to law students. The Lessons are broken down into two groupings: First Year (1L) Lesson Topics, and Upper Level (2L & 3L) Lesson Topics. Here’s what Sarah Glassmeyer, Director of Community Development at CALI has to say:

CALI lessons are written and edited by law faculty and librarians. If you have never used CALI lessons, they are more than just multiple choice questions – they provide substantive education on legal subjects, ask questions in a variety of formats and then provide immediate feedback to students allowing for self-assessment. This educate-test-feedback process has been shown to be an excellent method for information retention. We currently have over 900 lessons in 35 legal subjects with more being added every semester.

As of the writing of this post, there are over 500 1L Lessons and just under 700 2L & 3L lessons, all spread across different substantive areas. The Lessons are prepared by faculty from law schools around the country (and world). Each lesson provides a description indicating what topics it covers, as well as a “lesson completion time” which is an approximation of how long it should take to finish, making it easy for you to set your own pace while you learn.

To create a CALI account, follow the instructions on the intranet for registration information. A link is available from the Law Library’s Study & Practice Resources page (camlaw.rutgers.edu/study-practice-materials). Then you can visit cali.org at your convenience, sign in and get started on the lesson(s) of your choice!

CALI has even come up with a fun way to test your knowledge of legal history with their Time Trial card game (pictured above)! This card game will challenge your familiarity with Supreme Court opinions, justices and federal laws! You can pick up as many card packets as you wish near the student mailboxes on the second floor of the west law building. These card packets contain the registration information you need to create a CALI account. You can even play online at http://www.cali.org/timetrial/.